Promise's Blog

So the weather stinks, no one smiles, and it takes far too long to get around -- just what is it that makes London such a great place to be?

To be sure, London is not an easy city for the visitor: most Londoners have about as much time for tourists as they do for toxic waste. But this, bizarrely, can be the city's greatest charm. Without the attention of strangers, you can lose yourself in London like in no other city in the world. A million different Londons exist cheek by jowl: from beggars on Bond Street to penthouses in Peckham, the extremes -- of rich and poor, tranquility and raucousness, style and squalor -- can be found right on top of one another. Despite its enormous size, London is still the fastest-growing city in Europe, which means about the only certainty is that it will not stay still.